HMS Mercury

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Seventeen ships of the Royal Navy have borne the name HMS Mercury, or HMS Mercure, after the God Mercury, of Roman mythology:

• HMS Mercury was a 6-gun galley launched in 1592 and sold in 1611.
• HMS Mercury was a ship launched in 1620. Her fate is unknown.
• HMS Mercury was a ship purchased in 1622. Her fate is unknown.
• HMS Mercury was a 6-gun advice boat launched in 1694 and captured by a French privateer in 1697.
• HMS Mercury was an 8-gun fireship purchased in 1739 and foundered in 1744.
• HMS Mercury was a 16-gun brigantine launched in 1744 and captured in 1745.
• HMS Mercury was a 24-gun sixth rate launched in 1745 and broken up in 1753.
• HMS Mercury was a 20-gun sixth rate launched in 1756 and wrecked in 1777.
• HMS Mercury was a 28-gun sixth rate launched in 1779 and broken up in 1814.
• HMS Mercure was a 14-gun sloop. She was formerly a French privateer, captured in 1798 by HMS Phaeton in 1798. She was renamed HMS Trompeuse in 1799 and foundered in 1800.
• HMS Mercury was a 14-gun brig launched in 1806 and converted to a coal hulk by 1865.
• HMS Mercury was a tender launched in 1807 and broken up in 1835.
• HMS Mercury was a 46-gun fifth rate launched in 1826, used as a coal hulk from 1861 and sold in 1906.
• HMS Mercury was a cutter tender launched in 1837, renamed YC6 in 1866, HMS Plymouth in 1876 and was sold in 1904.
• HMS Mercury was an Iris class cruiser and despatch vessel launched in 1878, converted to a depot ship in 1906 and sold in 1919. She was to have been named HMS Columbine in 1912, but this did not happen.
• HMS Mercury was a training ship, previously a barque named Illova. She was purchased in 1887 and was sold as a coal hulk in 1916.
• TS Mercury was a composite screw gunboat launched in 1878 as HMS Gannet. She was renamed HMS President in 1903 and then lent to a private training school in 1913 and renamed TS Mercury. She is currently preserved as a museum ship.
• HMS Mercury was a Royal Naval Communications/Signal School located at the site of Leydene House near Petersfield, England. The establishment was in commission between 1941 and 1993.

[edit] References

• Colledge, J. J. and Warlow, Ben (2006). Ships of the Royal Navy: the complete record of all fighting ships of the Royal Navy, Rev. ed., London: Chatham. ISBN 9781861762818. OCLC 67375475.